Osteoarthritis, funding and the reality of becoming a scientist

Why do joints fail as we age, and why, after decades of research, is there still no drug that reliably stops osteoarthritis from progressing? Daphna Stern speaks with Maria Kyriazi, a DPhil researcher at the University of Oxford studying ageing and osteoarthritis. Still in her twenties, Maria gives us a view of science that we do not often hear. She talks openly about experiments that fail after months of work, almost having to give up her Oxford DPhil because she could not fund it, and the pressures young scientists face to produce and publish exciting results. They also discuss why osteoarthritis is far more complicated than the old idea of “wear and tear”, what ageing changes inside our joints, why promising research has repeatedly failed to become effective treatments, and whether we might eventually be able to treat the disease itself rather than simply manage the pain. About the guest Maria Kyriazi is a DPhil student in Molecular and Cellular Medicine at the University of Oxford, where she researches the age-related mechanisms involved in osteoarthritis. Originally from Athens, she came to the UK to study Biomedical Genetics at Newcastle University before completing an MRes in Ageing and Health and moving into doctoral research at Oxford. In October 2026, Maria received the Korenchevsky Prize for her research into ageing and osteoarthritis at the British Society for Research on Ageing annual scientific meeting. She previously won the Young Star Award at the Greek International Women Awards. She is a Mellon Longevity Graduate Scholar at Oriel College and an Onassis Foundation Scholar. Her research examines how ageing processes, including autophagy and cellular senescence, change within the joint and may contribute to the development of osteoarthritis. Maria Kyriazi — Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences Alsaleh Group | Ageing in the musculoskeletal system and beyond earth — Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences 00:00 Why study ageing and osteoarthritis? 01:38 How did Maria get from Athens to Oxford? 06:32 Why study ageing itself? 09:59 What actually happens in osteoarthritis? 14:00 Is osteoarthritis caused by ageing or injury? 17:06 What happens when cellular recycling starts to fail? 19:40 Why have osteoarthritis treatments repeatedly failed? 22:12 What does scientific failure really look like? 30:32 Why is it so difficult to fund a scientific career? 39:30 Does funding pressure encourage scientists to oversell results? 41:57 How do young scientists protect research integrity? 44:52 Could we eventually treat osteoarthritis itself? 49:02 Rapid-fire questions 51:43 Closing reflections